Franciscan priest Richard Rohr in his very insightful book entitled Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life writes about a most interesting discovery by philosopher Ken Wilber: “Most of us are only willing to call 5 percent of our present information into question at any one point—and again that is on a very good day.” (p.12) I suggest that such an observation explains why there are so many “dogs and swine” out there who are so opposed to change, transformation, and truth. In fact, I can remember times when I chose to “bark and oink” instead of being open to bigger truths and being willing to embrace necessary newness.
We are all familiar with the expression, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” We find that insight confirmed repeatedly throughout Scripture and in our daily lives. One of the most remarkable instances of such confirmation was on the last night of Jesus’ life on earth. He said to his disciples, who had been with him night and day for years, “I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” Those closest to Jesus were not ready for all the truth of God. In fact, if the Gospels are to be believed, they were incapable of grasping the truths Jesus had taught them over many months. They still didn’t “get it.” These “five percenters” had a long way to go before the radical and comprehensive truth of God’s good news could take root in their hearts, minds, and lives. And these “saints and apostles” from whom we have received our knowledge of Jesus were not alone.
The United Church of Christ has a most helpful slogan: “God is still speaking.” The Bible may be the ultimate source of our awareness of the Christ Event in time and space. We have no other reliable testimony regarding that Jew named Jesus of Nazareth. The Scriptures will always be foundational. However, we must also recognize that their contents reflect human attempts to understand and interpret the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We have four Gospels, each of which has its unique slant in understanding and presenting Jesus. We have letters and writings from Paul and other early church leaders who agreed on much but who also differed in their appreciation of the Christ event. The early church leaders took the testimony of the Scriptures and expanded and transcended it to communicate the gospel to the gentile world. All theology is a human attempt to understand the Christ Event within one’s contemporary setting. No one (and not even all of us together) will ever be able “to nail God down” with our partial and limited theologies. If God is eternal and infinite in nature, we will never in this dimension or any future dimension fully comprehend the nature and being of God. At best, we “five percent” ourselves in trying to understand that which ultimately is beyond our comprehension. We are dependent on God’s self-revelation which in the Christian tradition is revealed in the unconditional and indiscriminate love of Jesus of Nazareth. At best, we are all pilgrims who dare not homestead our pathetic attempts to fence in what and Who is ultimate and eternal.
So, if at best, we are “five percenters,” then we are all to a certain degree “dogs and swine.” Maybe the time has not come for many in our world to be open to a larger vision of who they are and who God is. That does not mean that they never will be ready for change, repentance, growth, emancipation, and redemption. Like most of the early church (which believed that ultimately everyone and everything in the cosmos will be “saved”), I have good hope for everyone because I have experienced God’s grace for me in my pathetic attempts to homestead lies and prejudices which are not worthy of my identity as a child of God.
There are many passages which confirm my hope for universal salvation. Most of them are well known by serious students of the Bible. (Romans 5:18-19; I Corinthians 15:22; II Corinthians 8:14; Romans 11:32; I Timothy 2:3-6; II Corinthians 5:19; Ephesians 1:9-10; Colossians 1:27-28; Philippians 2:9-11; Colossians 1:19-20; I Timothy 4:10; II Peter 3:9; John 5:17; I Corinthians 3:10-15) I will mention three which are usually overlooked.
- In Luke 15 we have three parables: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost boys (both sons were lost and dead to their father). In the first two parables, the shepherd and the homemaker seek that which is lost until they find it. They don’t search for a day and night, a week, or a month. There is no time limit put on the search. They look until they find that which was lost. If God is unconditional and indiscriminate love, will She do any less? Can God ever be content if there is even one person lost in their own foolishness, sin, and obstinance? (The early church leader Origen believed that even Satan would be “saved.”)
- There is a strange verse in the Gospels which is often neglected. Jesus said, “When I am lifted up from this earth, I will draw all humans to myself.” (John 12:32) The word “draw” is a weak translation of the Greek in this passage. “Drag” is a better translation. It suggests a determination, an assertiveness which reflects God’s ultimate goal to reconcile everything and everyone to the Divine Self. If God is love, God cannot be content with snatching a few souls from the fires of hell. Can God endure any empty chairs at the eschatological banquet when God at last makes Her home with humanity and creation?
- The prayer of Jesus from the cross also says so much more than we imagine. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Those killing Jesus did not know what they were doing—they did not know who he was—they did not know that in him God was revealing the essence of the Divine Nature. Had Paul, who called himself “a pharisee of pharisees,” been present during the arrest, trial, and execution, he would probably have approved of Jesus’ murder. Jesus was a threat to everything he valued and believed. But after his Damascus Road experience (which took three years to process, no doubt 5% at each stage–see Galatians 1:17-18), Paul became a champion for inclusion, forgiveness, love, and mercy.
So, yes, Jesus warned of those who were not willing to recognize and embrace truth. Such obstinance has been the source of so much evil and suffering in our world. But perhaps some of the most hopeful words in the Christian vocabulary are “not yet.” So many of us are simply “not yet” ready for a fuller revelation of God’s nature. But that does not mean we will never be ready. We may have to go 5% at a time, and that is when we are at our best! But as Paul wrote and experienced so deeply himself, God’s love is “patient and kind. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” (I Corinthians 13) At some point we must all admit that we are ultimately dependent on such love. With that realization should come great rejoicing since we are all, to different degrees, “dogs and swine who bark and oink” until love wins, truth emancipates, and we become worthy of our identities as children of God.
Tags: love, good news, change, repentance
